Zero watt monitors target big PC users

Published Monday, April 28, 2008

An award-winning monitor claimed to be the first to require no power at all while in standby mode will go on sale this summer.

The ̵6;zero watt monitor̵7;, which manufacturer Fujitsu Siemens says will sell for the same price as a conventional equivalent, was named innovation of the year at the CeBIT trade show in Hannover in March.

The primary component is a circuit element in the power supply unit that is switched by the PC. As soon as the video signal of the computer subsides, a relay automatically interrupts the entire electrical circuit. When the computer signal returns again, the low currents that then begin to flow across the interface are sufficient to trigger the relay and restart the monitor.

Initial sales will be targeted at corporate customers. Fujitsu Siemens acknowledges that savings per unit only amount to a few euros a year, but believes that figure adds up quickly enough to make the monitors attractive to large organisations with thousands of computers standing idle every weekend.

Image: Fujitsu Siemens̵7;s ̵6;zero watt̵7; monitor

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